by Naomi Lawrence ‘17

Beginning when they are still only toddlers, children have been learning life skills such as self-control and persistence from their parents. Now, some public schools in the United States are trying to mistakenly assume the role of teaching these character traits.

Recent updates to a federal education law require schools to use one form of non-academic measures to determine school performance. Some states, like California, have chosen to measure success based on its students’ level of social-emotional development.

To assess intangible qualities such as time-management, school officials are surveying students, asking questions such as “did you come to class prepared?” and “did you finish your work right away?” The problem with this approach is obvious: self-evaluated survey responses are easily susceptible to subjectivity. Obviously, children would more likely lie and say, “Yes, I did my homework” rather than tell the truth and say they didn’t accomplish what they needed to do. Even if students do not fake their answers, the survey provides incentive for “superficial parroting,” or repeating the same action/response without actually changing behavior.

On top of that, there are legitimate reasons behind why students struggle academically regardless of their amount of grit. Students with learning disabilities, a difficult home life, or ineffective teachers often perform miserably in school. With a focus on social-emotional skills, schools could conveniently blame a student’s academic deficiencies on a lack of effort and persistence rather than appropriately addressing the root causes of underachievement.

While Sherwood does not formally assess its students’ social-emotional skills, it has joined the ranks of schools across the country that have put an emphasis on teaching “life skills.” Partly in response to former Superintendent Joshua Starr’s focus on students’ emotional well-being, Sherwood implemented its advisory program last year, with a primary goal of helping students learn skills like grit and self-reliance. But in reality, that’s not what happens in many advisories. The majority of Sherwood students spend their Tuesday morning advisory classes chatting with friends, catching up on homework, or studying. The “lesson plans” of advisory classes, like teaching students how to set goals, have eroded, and the few teachers who try to stick to that plan often end up feeling as though not much was accomplished.

The major question remains: should teachers have the responsibility of teaching and assessing their students’ social-emotional skills? Shifting the focus from the academic instruction of core classes contradicts the entire idea of education. Public educators are trained to teach students math, English, and social studies, not life skills, which are developed through situational circumstances. They can’t be taught through lesson plans, nor can they be measured through a survey. Let parents keep their duty to raise their children with social-emotional skills as they see fit.